A/N: so. here you go.

Disclaimer: not mine. no need for full sentences.

WARNING: this chapter has mentions of rape, so if you get squeemish very easily, I'd say turn around now.

TT2

Friday September 25, 2019 (Early Morning)

Sara had finished packing early, and after setting her suitcase in the living room, took to the roof. It was dark (no duh) but the sky was pure midnight blue and dotted with twinkling stars, making it look more beautiful than she had ever seen it. She sighed wistfully, pulling her knees to her chest and losing herself in a daydream (that, oddly, had dark brown hair and the most beautiful masked blue eyes).

She didn't hear the door shut softly, with that barely noticeable click.

"Hey there," a gentle voice began, sitting next to her and mocking her position.

She smiled, though she hid it from him. "Hello," she tried to say as stiffly as possible, but it came out choked. He slid closer to her.

"Finished packing?" he asked lamely, looking for any excuse of conversation.

She smiled again, though bated, it was nonetheless there. Kyle was so funny in his attempts; he was so cluelessly him. "Yea," she replied, and turning to look at him for the first time. He had pulled on a grey tee-shirt and a pair of worn blue jeans. His sunglasses were ever-present on his face, but they fell down on the bridge of his nose so you could see part of his eyelids. "Did you finish packing too?"

"Well, yea. If I didn't I wouldn't be up-" but then he realized this eliminated the need for his first very silly question, and immediately shut himself up before he said something else stupid. A few moments of silence passed as they merely enjoyed each other's company.

"Why am I so appealing to you?" Sara suddenly blurted out and wished she hadn't. "What makes me so special from the rest of the girls in this Tower?"

Kyle turned red and looked away, as if embarrassed by this question. He pulled off his sunglasses and hung them on the collar of his tee-shirt. "Because," he began softly, taking her hand and kissing the back very tenderly. "You're exciting. You're amazing. You see so much beauty in everything. You absolutely adore life. You're amazingly bright and perceptive. You're an amazing person to have a conversation with. And not to sound shallow, but you are the most beautiful girl I have ever met."

Sara's eyes teared but she promised herself she wouldn't let them fall. She wouldn't let him know she was vulnerable to him. She wouldn't be weak. She wouldn't let him in. "Look, Kyle, you're an amazing boy...man...young man but..." she trailed off, searching for words, her eyes darting anywhere but to his sea blue gaze, which would melt her to the core the second she looked. "...I...we...this..." she, again, trailed off uncertainly.

Just as she looked up, succumbing to his gaze, he pulled her wrist forward, launching her whole body towards him.

Their lips met softly.

It was slow and innocent, definitely more-so than their first impromptu kiss. His hand fell off her wrist and cupped her cheek. Her arms slowly wormed around his neck, her hands laying themselves onto the nape of his neck. Sara leaned deeply into him, her chest pressing against his, as she leaned upon him and trusted him with her weight as they teetered on the edge of the roof. They broke apart and she rested her head on his chest only briefly, before reaching her head up again to claim his lips again, harder this time.

"Kyle," she breathed as he pushed her down, gently, but still with force. They were teetering horizontally on the edge of the Tower's roof.

She rolled.

They fell, and Kyle was quick enough to put out his arm to grab anything, but he had not acted quick enough. Sara beat him to it. They were now floating horizontally a few feet below the edge of the roof.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear.

It was then he knew he had said the wrong thing, for she tensed up immediately.

TT2

"Could I have fucked up worse?" he shouted at Danny (not particularly at him, but he was the only one listening) a fair few minutes later. He took the back of a chair and flew it a few feet across the room in his anger. "Could I have made things any worse for myself. I had her, right there, right at my fingertips. Then my mouth fucked it all up."

Danny only listened intently.

"I had to kill the mood with my feelings. I'm such a wussy. Feelings? Who needs feelings? I HAD HER RIGHT THERE!" he stated clearly, turning to face Danny. "I-I-" he sunk, defeated, into Danny's bed. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"For one, your mouth," Danny started, ticking of one finger on his left hand from his seat on his computer chair. "Second, there is nothing wrong with you. After all that, after everything you said and did, nothing could possibly be wrong with you. It's something with her."

Kyle sighed, running his hands up over his face and into his russet locks. "There's nothing wrong with her. She's perfect. She's the only girl for me. If Ican't have her, I won't have anybody else."

"You've known her for a grand total of a month and a half. You can't be so sure, Kyle."

He merely shrugged, wondering what she was doing right now.

TT2

"It was amazing," Sara sighed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "He was amazing, more likely. He is so strong and forceful, but he's gentle and...just amazing. Every second of it...I was so ecstatic I even performed wordless magic when we fell from the roof. That's a first for me."

Kimi watched her friend, eating up her words, her elbows on her knees supporting her head. "That's...wow," Kimi breathed, watching her still, with the ghost of a smile on her face. "So he was good?"

Sara grinned, but then it fell and she went back to her previous mope-y state. "It's not fair. Why can't I have him?" she asked nobody but herself.

"Because you're too cautious about what might happen if the public found out you were attached to him and found out he had a vulnerability?" Kimi offered.

"Yea," Sara responded, detached and not fully believing that answer.

"I can't really give you any advice on this except follow your heart," Kimi told her. "If your heart says go for Kyle, then you should. I mean, finding love is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me, especially in Danny. But maybe that's just because I'm a hopeless romantic. We've all hard rough patches in our life, and we deserve to be happy. We deserve someone who can make us happy. I think Kyle could make you happy."

Kimi walked across the room from the armchair she had been sitting in and gave Sara a short hug. "Come on, we have to be back up in the living room," Kimi told her, taking her hand and leading her to the door. "It'll be ok, It'll work itself out. I promise. One thing this Tower has taught me is that you can't avoid confrontation."

Sara smiled a small smile, before tuning out the world around her, going into her so-called "happy place" filled with brunettes with large sea blue eyes, and sunglasses to cover them up.

TT2

"I'm scared," Richard began. "What if when we get there...something has...happened?" he asked, not being too specific, for he didn't know what to expect.

"It'll be fine, Richard,"Raven told him, taking his hands. "She's tough. That's why you love her."

He smiled. "Thanks, Rae." He kissed her forehead tenderly. "That's just what I needed to hear."

The Titans (minus Taku) entered the room, it being exactly one thirty in the morning. They all sat on the couch and Richard looked around. "Victor's been down there with Taku, making some...er...adjustments to the rocket. Grab your bags, and let's get down there."

He led them into a part of the Tower none of them had been. They used the elevator, and he pushed a button that was held beneath a small silver box with a flip-open top. It led them to the underground storage and launch site for the T-Ship. They stepped out of the elevator and were in awe of the large warehouse-like room.

"Hey y'all!" Taku greeted from the door of the T-ship. It looked much different from when the Original Titans were in the Tower. There was a small compartment underneath each pod (small meaning roughly half the size of their living room) and they had been remodeled so you could easily go from pod to pod if they were connected, but it also sealed air-tight in case of separation.

"Hey Taku," Danny started, extending the 'y'.

"We're ready for take-off in roughly twenty minutes, if we can get loaded in time," Vic announced from somewhere under the T-Ship, with all his machinery hanging out, his ring being on a counter nearby.

The three Titans making this trip put their bags down next to them. "Whoa," the three of them breathed in unison. "You heard him," Richard announced. "Let's get set."

They each took to a pod, Richard claiming the one in the front of the vehicle, the one that would always be his. He gave the one diagonal from him to the left to Kyle, so he would be able to take the lead once Richard wasn't around. Sara took the one diagonal from Richard to the right, horizontal from Kyle. Victor and Kimi took the two back pods, smiling at each other as they climbed in, situating themselves.

All of them hopped out when they heard Richard whistle loudly. The Titans were briefed on how to proceed with the launch, the flying, and the touch-down, and all other things they could cover in the short twenty minutes they had. Then, they all said their goodbyes and Richard told Jenna and Clara to go to the main room to monitor the launch on the TV, and Taku, Danny, and Raven to go to the roof and make sure the launch went off without a hitch. Once they all checked in via communicator, the assembled team entered their pods and soon enough were preparing for takeoff.

"You ready back there?" Richard asked Sara. She replied wholeheartedly. "You ready for launch?" he asked Kyle. He smiled and waved his consent. "Hey sweetie, you all ready back there?" he then asked Kimi.

"Yea Daddy," she replied sweetly.

"Launch in T minus 10," Victor started, which infiltrated all of their headsets, required for every minute of the trip unless they were asleep. "Nine." Sara fidgeted as she felt Kyle's gaze on her. "Eight." Kimi was wondering how long it would be until she saw Danny again. "Seven." Victor was really thinking of Jenna. "Six." Kyle was watching Sara, who fidgeted (something she did when she was nervous). "Five." Richard was beginning to worry. "Four." Kimi was getting anxious to have her mother back. "Three." Sara and Kyle were wondering what this trip would bring. "Two." Victor's mind shifted to his best friend and his MIA wife. "One." Richard's mind pictured Kori, hanging limp in that jail cell. "Liftoff."

The thrusters behind them fired up and they were lifted up until they were above the water, right in front of Titans' Tower. "You're set for launch," came Raven's voice over all of their headsets. Within another few moments they had fired up and were on a fast journey through the atmosphere. In another few moments they were in space, surrounded by the nothingness. Earth was getting more distant by the second as they took off for Tamaran.

"You kids can go get some sleep," Richard told them all. "Vic and I will take it from here."

They all agreed wholeheartedly and trekked down to their individual spaces to get some sleep. Upon entering, they found that they each had a bed waiting for them. "Nice," Kyle began, flopping onto one of the small yet comfortable beds. "Nighty night," he sighed, before digging his head into the pillow.

"Goodnight," Kimi mumbled, before hopping onto her own bed.

Sara said nothing, but merely pulled back the covers and slowly crawled in to her own bed. She pulled them up to her chest and stared up at the metallic ceiling above her. She soon heard the rhythmic snoring of Kimi coming from one side of her, and the slow, deep breathing of Kyle next to her. It was safe.

She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. Her eyes wandered to the body twisted in sheets next to her. He, too, had sat up and was now staring at her affectionately. Sara jumped visibly and then put a stern look on her face. "You scared the crap outta me!" she hissed, trying not to wake Kimi up. "What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep. I couldn't sleep, even before all this happened," he told her, his face bathed in galactic light coming from a small window above him. "I was...thinking."

Sara huffed and looked away, not willing to admit herself to him yet.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked either way. Like she really believed he would realize she didn't want to talk. "Why do you seem to back away so much? I thought you said you liked me?" His voice wasn't smug or conceited. It was an innocent question, surrounded with a hint of insecurity.

Sara didn't look back at him, but sighed deeply, and began. "I...I do. Oh God, I do, Kyle. It's just...I don't play with my feelings. I need to know I'm serious about this before I go into it. I've been hurt before...by someone I thought I loved. I wouldn't be able to stand that again."

He mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "I would never do that". Then, Sara felt something wrap around her shoulders and she leaned into his body as he hugged her tight, having slipped onto her bed to sit next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Sara...please don't make me chase you."

There was silence for a good few minutes. Neither of them said anything, but listened to their deep, even breathing. "I was raped," she began softly. He jumped slightly, disturbed at the noise, especially the confession. "When I was 14 I was dating a Junior. He was so amazingly sweet and kind, and I coulda swore I loved him. He was even understanding when I told him I wasnt ready for...well, you know. But then I guess he didn't feel like waiting because he took me to a Senior party and he drugged my drink. I woke up the next morning naked in a hotel room somewhere outside of the town I lived in."

"Sare," he began softly, trying to pull away to look at her face-to-face, but she wouldn't let him. She buried her head deeper into his shoulder, her words even more muffled. He rubbed her back as hot tears began to fall, merely recollecting that painful time.

"You're the first person I've ever told. I'm pretty sure Clara doesn't even know. But...I just...if anything is going to happen between us, I need you to know that. I need you to know I'm fragile, I'm not always as strong as I seem. I'm vulnerable," she mumbled.

"Sara, I couldn't hurt you if I tried. I care about you too much."

She merely leaned into him and continued to cry quietly.

TT2

It was terribly fun staying down in the Tower to monitor the mission while the others got to experience the mission first-hand. Oh yes, a lot of fun.

Clara was, of course, being sarcastic.

Her phone began to ring from the pocket of her sweatpants. She pulled it out, checked the LCD screen on the front, then flipped it open with a large smile across her face. "Hello?" she asked happily, in a voice higher than normal.

"Hey baby," someone answered on the other end. "Great job catching those arsonists today. Saw you and your cute buns on TV."

"I find that offensive," she retorted jokingly. "My buns are not cute."

Taku and Danny both looked at her, where she was sitting at the head of the living room computer. Raven and Jenna were both napping on the couch after having monitored the mission for a good few hours. "What?" Danny and Taku asked together.

"What are you doing right now?" Jake asked.

"Sitting at home, monitoring some mission with Danny and Taku. Kinda bored. Wanna swing over and come hang out?" She asked him, pulling her knees up onto the chair and hugging them close.

"Hmm...I'm sure I'd love that. What do the others say?"

"Hey, you guys don't mind if I have a friend over, do ya?" Clara asked them with a tiny smirk on her face. They both shrugged indifferently, though Taku mumbled something Clara couldn't quite catch. "Naw, it's ok with them. Hurry over here, sweetcheeks." She hung up her phone just as she heard a faint roar she presumed to be his motorcycle. It was a few minutes before he appeared at their living room door with a slight smirk on his face, casually leaning against the metallic frame. He was dressed down in a pair of jeans and a black band shirt with a black jacket, and sleek black sunglasses.

"How did you get in?" Danny asked snidely, without having to turn around since Clara had squealed his name and jumped up to hug (and kiss) him.

"I have my ways," he retorted, wrapping a casual arm around Clara and directing them towards part of the couch that wasn't taken up. Taku turned around, his eyes meeting the sight of them coupled up together.

"Is it just me, or does this guy look familiar?" Taku asked, genuine in his question.

"How so?" Clara asked, trying to mask the fright in her voice. She certainly didn't need them to find out she had been inviting a criminal into their home on a daily basis.

"I don't know. He kinda looks like...ah, well, nevermind," he ended in a mumble, talking more to himself than anyone else. "I don't know. I'm delusional. I've been surviving on one hour of sleep, so you can't really blame me."

Clara looked to Jake and let out a breath of relief. Safe, for now.

TT2